Apologeticae sive Theologiae Fundamentalis, Tomus II (Pars Altera): Demonstratio Catholica
Hilarin Felder (1867–1951)
Apologeticae sive Theologiae Fundamentalis
First published 1920
Tomus II—Demonstratio Catholica—completes Hilarin Felder's Apologeticae sive Theologiae Fundamentalis by treating the Catholic Church as the historical bearer and interpreter of revelation. Published at Paderborn in 1920 (with the second-edition setting issued in 1923), it develops the marks, continuity, authority, and universality of the Church through biblical, historical, patristic, and scholastic argument. Read with Tomus I, it documents the structure of early twentieth-century Catholic fundamental theology and the apologetic priorities of the period. Schola presents the 1920 Latin edition with an English translation.
Prooemium
§ I: De ecclesia ut societate christifidelium
Dissertatio I: De institutione ecclesiae
Caput I: De facto ecclesiae a Christo institutae
Articulus I: Realitas ecclesiae a Christo institutae
Subarticulus I: Testimonium Christi ipsius
Subarticulus II: Testimonium apostolorum Christi
Subarticulus III: Testimonium antiquitatis christianae
Articulus II: Unicitas ecclesiae a Christo institutae
Subarticulus I: Testimonium Christi ipsius
Subarticulus II: Testimonium apostolorum Christi
Subarticulus III: Testimonium antiquitatis christianae
Caput II: De fine ecclesiae a Christo institutae
Articulus I: Finis proximus ecclesiae
Subarticulus I: Testimonium Christi
Subarticulus II: Testimonium apostolorum
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The Apostles, in explicit words, attribute to themselves the office, received from God, of caring for the Christian religion: "Feed the flock of God which is among you … And when the prince of pastors appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory."1 "Let a man so regard us as ministers of Christ and dispensers of the mysteries of God."2 "But all things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; for indeed God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself … and he placed in us the word of reconciliation. We act therefore as ambassadors for Christ, as though God were exhorting through us. We beseech you for Christ: be reconciled to God."3
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The Apostles, with metaphorical expressions, describe the Church as the house of God, the bride of Christ, the body of Christ. The Church is the house of God built upon "the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone"4, i. e., with Christ as leader the Church contains all the servants of God and, together with them, exercises the true worship of God. The Church is the bride of Christ,5 with whom the Redeemer lives inseparably and begets souls for heaven through the exercise of the true religion. The Church is the mystical body of Christ6 whose head is the Lord,7 "from whom the whole body, being compacted and joined together through every joint of ministration, according to the working in the measure of each single member, makes the increase of the body for the building up of itself in charity"8 i. e., Christ is the head of the Church; the faithful are the members, the ecclesiastical ministries are the joints between the head and the members, in such a way that through the ministers of the Church the benefits of religion and of the redemption of Jesus Christ are poured into each of the faithful. And thus the head and the members are organically united into the one living body of Christ, "compacted and joined together," through the ministry of the Church.